Grassroots News & Progressive Views

The women are brown and black. They wear navy blue scrubs. Most have navy-colored canvass shoes on, but some wear bright orange plastic shower sandals. They’re in their 20s and 30s, except for a few with long grey hair. They are neat and clean. A few wear white plastic rosaries around their necks.

The facility is a two-hour drive east of San Diego on Interstate 8. It’s in the Calexico desert. There are no trees or green for as far as the eye can see — just lots of grey rock and brown earth. Metal fencing topped with barbed wire surrounds the building. The parking lot is mostly empty. The sun burns the sidewalk and the few cacti that dare to dot the landscape.

Inside it’s clean and tidy. There is no smell. There is no noise. [Read more…]

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How do you protect the climate, save money, get exercise, have fun and give back to the community all at the same time?

I call it treasure hunting. Others call it “thrifting.”

Treasure hunting has become a fun hobby. I thank my daughter, the minimalist, for showing me the way. I’ll admit to having been a bit of a snob about thrift stores. I was happy to donate my old stuff to them but I never thought to shop in them.

This changed when my daughter, who has been buying her clothes from thrift stores since her high school days, explained the ethical value of recycling. It’s not about whether or not you can afford new stuff; it’s about supporting the concept of recycling to help keep the planet cleaner by reducing waste and carbon emissions from manufacturing. [Read more…]

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I’d like to go on a bit of a rant about how naïve I have been for so long and even though I am an educated person, my education was more akin to indoctrination. Now that I am finally waking up, I wish to share a few examples of what I was taught and what I now believe.

Christopher Columbus – I was taught he was a hero for proving the world was not flat and discovering and bringing Christianity to the new world. In fact, he was a really a “bad hombre” and he was not the first explorer to reach the Americas – he was preceded by its indigenous people who came from Asia and later, the Vikings. As for the shape of the earth, scholars had known since antiquity that the Earth was a sphere. Most shocking to me was learning that he started the transatlantic slave trade; used torture and mutilation; and initiated the genocide of the natives.

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The election of Trump has caused me to focus on my core beliefs and work toward advancing them. I recommend this exercise for everyone. It is a useful way to clarify where you stand and to focus your energies.

So, in no particular order and subject to further additions, here they are. [Read more…]

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I love Nora Ephron’s book, “I Feel Bad About My Neck”. I have been feeling bad about my neck since I was about 55. As the years passed, my feelings grew as my weight increased and my necked sagged. All my photos are full face – no side shots allowed.

At 62 I had a consult with a plastic surgeon. When I told him I wanted to lose weight, he told me to wait on the surgery until I reached my weight loss goal – no point in sucking out the fat, cutting the muscles and stretching the skin just to have it sag again on an otherwise svelte neck – assuming I actually lost the weight.

Soon I’ll be 68 and my weight loss goal is almost complete (btw, eliminating alcohol can do that for you). So I decided it was time to head back to the plastic surgeon (who btw, seemed to have gained the weight I lost). I learned that the procedure would cost $8500 and I’d need to spend at least 2 weeks recovering. Incisions would be made to suction out the fat, tighten the muscles and pull back the skin. There would be pain and suffering and I’d have to keep my head bound and elevated even during sleep – assuming I was lucky enough to catch a few winks in such an altered state. [Read more…]

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One of many things causing me angst about Trump is his belief that climate change is a hoax – never mind the scientific community’s consensus to the contrary.

So, rather than sit on my sofa and continue to wallow in post-election depression, I joined my daughter and attended two local climate action events this past week and came away feeling empowered to take action.

The first event was the Hillcrest Town Council monthly meeting – this one featured “sustainability” as its theme. Representatives of San Diego 350 (Lindsay Richardson) and Surfrider San Diego (Roger Kube) discussed their respective programs and focused on practical things we can each do to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions (the stuff that causes global warming and could lead to the destruction of the planet). [Read more…]

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Like many older Americans (those of us who still watch tv), I sat in front of my tube Sunday night and watched Leslie Stahl of 60 Minutes “interview” Trump and his clan.

Optimistic by nature, I found myself wanting to find the humanity in him – I found myself hoping he was “not that bad” in real life. I wanted him to be a normal person who just happens to have conservative principles rather than an unethical opportunist with no moral compass.

All of a sudden I realized I was trying to “normalize” Trump so I could settle down and go on with my status quo – living my happy “do-gooder” retired life. [Read more…]

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(Even Though I Used To Really Love Alcohol!)

My first memory of alcohol was as a little girl tasting my dad’s beer while sitting on his lap on Saturday afternoons after he mowed the lawn. I loved the taste of the “forbidden” golden, sparkly and fizzy-bitter tasting liquid that sometimes made me hiccup.

My next beer memory was at a friend’s house after school in 10th grade. Since no one was home, we downed a couple, I got my first buzz and loved it. [Read more…]

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Note: #BlackLivesMatter activist DeRay McKesson was the closing keynote speaker at Politifest2016, all-day public affairs conference held at SDSU on September 24, featuring workshops and sessions about the November ballot.

Talking with DeRay McKesson was the highlight of my day. He has an engaging, low-key candor that put the mostly white audience at ease. He’s a good-looking 31 year old man with a unique style – wearing a preppy Patagonia vest with slim jeans and European style pointed shoes with colorful socks. He’s soft-spoken with an indistinct diction and fast flowing words.

I asked him how white people could help the cause of ending violence against black people. He suggested we use our “White Privilege” to disrupt it. Campaign Zero, the campaign he and fellow activists started, provides strategies for doing this. [Read more…]

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The year was 1970, I was to graduate with a BA, the Kent State killings had just occurred and campuses all across the nation, including mine, were shut down. Never having to take our last set of final exams, my class was graduated – some of us walking down the aisle to receive our diplomas wearing black arm bands to signify opposition to the war in Vietnam. Having financed my education, my parents congratulated me and quickly let me know that I was now on my own as far as money was concerned.

So, since I had to pay rent, I went about the task of finding a job. I soon learned that my degree in English didn’t matter a damn but my halting ability to crank out 45 words per minute on the typewriter did– a skill I tried to learn in high school since I thought it’d be easier than trigonometry. [Read more…]

Imagine a woman who made a difference in the suffrage movement, the labor movement, the racial equality movement, women’s education, and court reform…

Welcome to the world of INEZ MILHOLLAND – the 27-year-old woman, dressed in a white cape and crown atop a white steed, who led the Suffrage March of 1913 in Washington, D. C. on the day before the inauguration of Woodrow Wilson. [Read more…]